Interesting one this one – there’s a new service launching in the UK whereby you can find someone by their mobile number, and then have your details sent to them to get in contact with them – the name of the service is 118800
118800 has bought a series of mobile number lists to form a (roughly) 16 million number database, which people, and by that I mean anyone, will be able to query.
The interesting angle, other than the launch itself, is the fact that it has created seemingly quite a bit of controversy regarding privacy laws – I guess quite a few people don’t feel like their data should be made available to others!
I understand that the numbers were collated from various lists, which themselves were the result of those instances where say you fill in a form for marketing (or don’t uncheck the box), for a given promotion or similar. The problem is, I guess, that people whose numbers have been captured didn’t give explicit permission for their data to be sold on….
Having now checked out the website, it seems relatively easy to become ‘ex-directory’ – which of course you should do if you feel uncomfortable about people finding your details on the site. If you are cool with being found (assuming you are one of the 16 million) then you need do nothing 🙂
Personally, I’d give the site a look anyway – it’s an interesting idea, and I’m sure people will be tempted to check it out when it launches tomorrow.